Railways now admit Darbhanga Express had faulty brakes

The Railway Board has directed the East Central Railway’s chief mechanical engineer to audit its staff maintenance protocols.

On Thursday, railway officials had denied to Mumbai Mirror that the Mumbai-bound Darbhanga Express, with more than 2,000 passengers on board, had been allowed to travel more than 350 km on Tuesday, despite the brakes not functioning in 19 of its 21coaches.

While a letter by a member of the Railway Board had flagged the serious security lapse, two railway CPROs had denied the incident outright.

On Friday, however, the officials changed their version around completely, finally admitting that the train had indeed suffered a major lapse in security. Officials from the East Central Railway also confirmed that an inquiry had been instituted into the incident. If anyone was found guilty, they said, strict action would be taken.

Rajesh Kumar, chief PRO, East Central Railway, said that after receiving instructions from the Railway Board, Anil Sharma, chief mechanical engineer, East Central Railway, had inspected the Darbhanga yard where secondary maintenance work was done on the train in question.

Darbhanga falls under the East Central Railway’s Samastipur Division, from where the train originated. When asked about the inquiry, Kumar said primary maintenance of the Darbhanga-Lokmanya Tilak Terminal Express is carried out by the Central Railway (CR). The brakes of 19 of the train’s 21 coaches were found to be malfunctioning at Chhapra railway station, which falls under the Varanasi division of the North Eastern Railway zone. “It is necessary to inquire into all these aspect. Besides this, we are trying to do our best,” he said.

Sources said that after Mirror published the story on Friday, apart from the East Central Railway, the CR also began an inquiry into the matter. On Friday, a senior officer at LTT, who wasn’t authorised to speak to the media, said they were also investigating the matter.

Earlier, on September 13, the Railway Board had directed the chief mechanical engineer, East Central Railway, to carry out an audit of the staff’s knowledge of maintenance protocols across all coaching depots of the East Central Railway, and submit the report to the board.

The board also asked the chief mechanical engineer to fix responsibility for the security lapse, questioning how the train was allowed to leave Sonpur station without attention, despite a memo from the loco pilot regarding poor brake power in 19 of its coaches.

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